Lessons from COVID

This past week I have had the wonderful opportunity of experiencing my first personal encounter with the COVID virus that has been affecting all of us for nearly four years. Although my husband got it early in 2021 and was home for 6 weeks, I somehow avoided getting it until now. Different strains have come and gone, leaving different effects on those whose lives have been touched by this virus – including loss of life for many (several friends of ours included). I am very grateful to be having this experience with a strain that has both weaker and shorter symptoms. My life is almost back to normal already.

But two lingering symptoms (loss of taste and loss of smell) have had me thinking about the things we take for granted in life. It really is true that “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone”. Both of my parents experienced life-changing losses for over a decade each at the end of their lives: my father lost his ability to smell, and my mother lost her ability to taste. I never fully understood until now how well they soldiered on with little complaint. Right now I am missing the satisfying tastes of favorite foods and the comforting smells of scented candles or meals cooking. I am more aware than ever that our senses are precious gifts.

It’s got me thinking about what other things we take for granted. What do I forget to notice that I should be thankful for? Life itself is a gift that is not promised; but there are so many other things besides just life itself. As a photographer and musician, I am more tuned in than some to the beauty and colors of nature and the joy of musical harmony and chord transition. But I may not always appreciate and celebrate the uniqueness of the people around me. We all have blind spots that we are prone to miss.

So this is my message to myself and everyone else: make a concerted effort to avoid taking anything in life for granted. Stop and smell the roses (literally!) – you may not always be able to. Slow down and enjoy the taste of every meal, and don’t just eat to live. Enjoy the rain, because today’s showers bring tomorrow’s flowers. Freely give hugs and say “I love you” – the people around you may not always be there. Go out of your way to brighten someone else’s day – you don’t know what impact simple kindness might have in their life today. Choose thanksgiving instead of complaining, focusing on what you appreciate about your life. Seize each day for God’s glory – you don’t know what tomorrow will bring. 

Life is a Gift

I’m a reactor. It doesn’t seem to matter how long I live or how hard I try, I can’t seem to shake my natural bent to react in the moment. I am often immediately convicted by the Spirit and asking for forgiveness, and I have definitely grown over the years in my reactions to others. But it will never be natural for me to be silent when the unexpected happens, and that part of my personality bothers me.

Yesterday was Sanctity of Human Life Sunday for 2024, an annual observance of the value of all human life that coincides with the anniversary of the passage of the legalization of abortion in the United States in 1973. It is typically a day that churches focus on their stand against abortion and the value of all human life as a gift from God, who alone has the power to give or take life. Based on the creation account in Genesis 1:26-27, Christians believe that all humans are made in the image of God and therefore possess intrinsic value and are worthy of respect and protection. Because human worth is grounded in the image of God, value is not based on a person’s abilities or usefulness or age or physical beauty or race or religion or financial status or anything else.

But this week I’ve been thinking about what it means to hold these beliefs about human life and how it affects me in a practical way. There is more to consider here than just abortion and euthanasia, and this is more than a political issue. If I believe in the sanctity of all human life, then how I treat other people matters . . . all the time. And Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:21-22 dig deep into this issue and my status as a reactor. Jesus updates the original Jewish law and makes it very practical for his followers when he equates anger with murder – both equally deserving judgment. Ouch! Now it’s getting more personal. I’m no murderer; but I react in anger far more often than I care to admit.

If I say I believe in the sanctity of human life, then my reactions should show it. When I get angry in traffic or because someone does something differently than I would, it shows that I don’t value them the way I should. When I react with selfish motives or in judgment instead of compassion, I am devaluing the other person in comparison to myself. I am forgetting that everyone has a God-given purpose for being here, regardless of what traits they have been given or what circumstances they find themselves in. And there is no place for name-calling that attacks someone else’s character or identity. The bottom line: anything I say or do that devalues another person violates the sanctity of human life I claim to believe in.

Maybe I’m the only one who needed to hear these words this week. But belief and action always go hand in hand for Christians. And that’s a message we probably all need to hear. Thankfully, right actions are powered by God’s work in us, and he has given us everything we need for life and godliness through his Son, Jesus (2 Peter 1:3). Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

A New Beginning

 

It has been over 3 years since I have written anything for this blog. I didn’t plan it that way – it just happened. At the time of my last post, we were right in the middle of the COVID pandemic and struggling to keep our heads above water in an ever-changing lifestyle and increasingly divisive political culture. The beginning of the 2020’s was hard for everyone.

Personally, a lot has changed since my last post. In 2020, I had two adopted grandchildren; today I have four! Since 2020, my husband and I have moved and attend a new church. Our second son has met the love of his life and given us a new daughter-in-law. My husband and I have lost two more parents (my Mom and his Dad), leaving only one more elder in our family. My husband underwent a life-changing medical issue that included 136 days of hospitalization and skilled nursing facilities and, for a time, the imminence of his departure from this world. Today we are very grateful for his new liver and a new lease on life. After the long stall of COVID and my husband’s recovery, we have been blessed to travel again to explore new scenery in Hawaii and Glacier National Park as well as many trips to SoCal to spend time with our grandchildren. And I have reached the milestone of signing up for Medicare and regularly feel the effects of the aging process happening in my body. The last words I wrote in 2020 were Philippians 4:7 – “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This verse is more precious today than when I originally wrote it because I have had new opportunities to experience its truth in my daily life.

It would be easy to focus on all that has changed in my life and re-define myself in terms of those things. But I would rather focus on what hasn’t changed in the past three years. First of all, life today is good; but it is still hard and might not get easier! Through every change and every difficulty, we have the opportunity for personal/spiritual growth and the option to choose joy in every circumstance. Joy will always be a choice, no matter what happens in the world or in our own lives. This is still what walking daily with Jesus looks like. The life of faith will always include both difficulty and joy, and we will always have to choose what to focus on. In his garden prayer before his death, Jesus acknowledged the difficulty but chose the joy of surrender. I want to choose to be honest about the difficulty but joyful through the process.

Another thing that has not changed since 2020 (and never will!) is that God is faithful. And he is continually giving blessings to his children even in the face of hardship and grief. This is a part of his character, and it is not possible for God to be unfaithful. He is motivated by his deep love for us, and he wants to bless us with gifts that are good for us (James 1:17). God is with us, he is for us, and he is in us! There’s nothing else we could possibly need.

Simply put, God is still good . . . all the time. And the lasting peace that he gives is still so much better than any “peace” I can find without him, because it is eternal (John 14:27). As I re-start sharing my thoughts with you in this blog, I hope you will be encouraged wherever life takes you in 2024 and beyond. And these old lyrics from a Michael Card song resonate with me as I begin a new year of walking with God:

“There is a joy in the journey,

There’s a light we can love on the way.

There is a wonder and wildness to life,

And freedom for those who obey.”